Apex Preamp Modern Distortion Pedal For Electric Guitar

This thing sounds killer and gives you a ton of tonal options. With the inclusion of a noise gate, this pedal is a huge value for the money; though it is expensive.

Great if you like muddy guitar tones. This pedal is a total disappointment!

The Apex is a damn good pedal. Built by MXR, it should feel familiar to anybody who's used their pedals before. When paired with a proper power amp and speaker it is capable of everything you could want for a modern metal tone, and then perhaps a little more. Running into a clean channel it acts like you'd expect any distortion pedal to, and it does it well, running into a distorted channel however, it is quite lacking. Regardless of the multitudes of Guides, suggestions, and videos on different ways of setting it up (some of which were provided by Horizon Devices themselves), I found it near impossible to find even a remotely useable tone running into a dirty channel. Running direct into my interface (two separate interfaces tried: Scarlett Solo, and Apollo Twin MKII) came with a challenge or two on it's own. Namely, output level. The Apex simply doesn't push enough wattage by itself to get a decent level without cranking the input gain on your interface to near ridiculous levels. Now, that is a relatively small inconvenience (honestly it barely has any bearing on this review) but the claim that it can "just plug right in" falls flat. The claim -should- read "Sounds great plugged right in after you set up a solid signal path with appropriate levels/gain stages". I typically run mine through a compressor (Variety of Sound's Density MKIII) and further color the tone with Ignite Amplification's (STL) TPA-1 power amp VST, and after some EQ work, it's ready to go. Now about EQ, the 3 band EQ on the pedal itself was a bit frustrating at first, because (and this is just my belief) it sits on a slightly shifted point in the indicated frequency ranges. Meaning, it won't sound quite right if you immediately dial in your go-to settings. It took me a little playing around with it to find a spot that I liked. The built in cab sim is a nice touch, and turning the knob simulates sweeping the mic across the speaker to give you a respectable range of different tones. Personally, I run it with the cab sim off, into IR's that I had already (Seacow Cab's Meshuggah IR's are absolutely devastating with it). The built in noise gate is excellent, as it was with the Precision Drive, and like the PDrive it has adjustable sensitivity. The 'Tight' switch does exactly what it implies: it tightens the low end up without affecting the gain structure. With all that being said, I think that it is a bit too expensive for what it is: a distortion/boost/noise gate combo pedal. Maybe $100 to $150 less and it'd be worth it entirely.TL;dr:Pros -Loads of gainRidiculous amount of tonal possibilitiesMXR built, build quality basically guaranteedBoost(tight switch) and Noise gate built in, saves pedal board spaceCons -Not as simple to set up as was claimedEQ curve will throw some people offDOES NOT pair with an already distorted channelPerhaps a bit overpriced

The sound quality of this device is phenomenal. The gate feature that helps with feedback has definitely made this product well worth the money spent. I would highly recommend!!!

Product is work and make can does great sounds works for studio and that

Excelente feliz

Sounded GREAT when it was working......Bought it as a gift for a friend. Device started disconnecting at the input jack about 6 months after purchase. My friend tried to get ahold of customer service (about three months ago) to figure out whats wrong and see if its covered under the warranty. They stopped replying to his emails. He's left with a device thats un-usable. They claim to be "A company run by guitarists, for guitarists" but don't make the effort to stand by their products.

I bought this during the pre-order direct from Horizon Devices, so I won't show as "verified owner". Anyway, I've got this little bad boy and it is really good. I have combo amps Blackstar HT40 as well as Boss Katana 100. I heard good things about this pedal and decided to check it out. I'm glad I did. It certainly nails the high gain territory quite well, basically giving me an extra channel for high gain. This allows for me to dial back my dirt channel to flavor and kick this in for high gain. It also allows me to use amp distortion and flavor it a bit with this pedal. The tightness feature is great but I personally favor my gain to be as open as possible. While I don't have Ola's Mesa or Misha's Peavey, this still works great with my rigs. Overall, it is certainly worth it.